The Marine Corps Lumber Yard at San Francisco

By Sergeant Oscar Otis, United States Marine Corps Reserve

Marine assault troops have landed on a Jap held island in the South Pacific. -A small beachhead has been carved out, and soon after the start of the push inland, vital supplies start pouring ashore.

- Among these "must" items, surprisingly enough -to the uninitiatid, is lumber. Old fashioned trvo by fours have a priority rating right along side of guns, ammunition and iood. 'In fact, a quantity-of lumber now usually precetles the bulk of the ammunifion and other stores "beached" to back up the assault.

The-lumber which goes ashore to fight has been found vital for the clockwork success of a South Seas invasion force. In early Pacific landings, it was discovered that supplies stacked on coral beaches had a tendency to sink as much as two or three feet into the sand and coral, ruining a considerable portion of the supplies.

The processing of Marine Corps lumber, from purchase to use, is a streairlined operation that is efficiency exemplified. Captain Harold Morgan, USMCR, is th-e 9ffrce1jn charge of Pto.ute-ent, witL offices in Portland, Ore. FIis purchases, made through the Army Engineers, are sent to the Islais Creek Yard bv ship and rail'

The Islais yard handles everything from t/*'l *]" to 8" x 8". Not only that, it does so with a dispatch that makes for an annuil turnover of more than 10 times the stock' In a civilian yard, a turnover of more than six times a year is considered sensational business.

Unloaded at Islais Creek, the lumber is then diverted into a myriad of channels. While overseas shipments- receive preference, about 2O per cent is used on the West Coast by Marine installations.

One remarkable fact of the overseas operation is the abili- ty of the yard to ship an exact footage of lumber, cut to lneasure, to set up a -complete camp for any Marine unit, be it a platoon or a Corps. The requirements of certain timber rires ate figured to a 3000 men unit. For this basic unit, exactly 204,O50 board feet are required. This unit can be varied, in proportion, to suit the needs of any grogP.

The new landing technique sees a platform built of planks, the r'veight-of supplies is distributed-evenly over ihir floor, and 1-00 per ceni utilization of beached stores is available. This lumber is not wasted. When the need for a temDorary "dock" has abated, the boards are used in construction oi barracks and huts.

Soon after the beachhead has been established, sanitary offrcers demand that cook houses and latrines be enclosed, and other lumber is landed along with the heavy stores for construction PurPoses.

Every stick o{ lumber used in the South Pacific by the Marine Corps has been classified and processed at the Marine Corps lumber yard, Islais Creek, San Francisco' a i aivision of the Depot of Supplies under command of Brigadier General Arnold W. Jacobsen, Depot Quartermaster. The lumber, from the time it is purchased from Washingi ton, Oregon, and California mills, to the time it is shipped out for warfare, is under the control of Major Clarence E. Magnuson, USIICR (Ret), Depot Engineer Officer.

Major Magnusbn coordinates these lumber units with shipments of nails, screws, spikes, and other necessary gear for complete construction. When the lumber is landed on the specified island, only a carpenter and a hammer are required to set up the buildings in jig time. The camp is, in efiect, prefabricated.

These camps, incidentally, are complete. There is lumber for barracks, mess halls, latrines, hospitals, command Dosts, supply depots, recreation halls, etc.

' Lumbei^ ii nof only a necessity at the Marine fronts bui in getting supplies there, especially when it comes to heavy equipment and rolling stock. Such equipment as trucks, jeeps, etc., must be secured safely aboard ship, requiring bracing and often platforms.

The vast number of crates and boxes needed for shipping all kinds of material overseas is provided by a Marine Box factory and woodworking shop located gn the outskirts of San Francisco at Bayshore. -Lumber lor this purpose is routed by the Islais Creek yard direct to the factory.

One item that is constructed in entiretv at the yard is the pallat or frame for the speedy loading incl unloading of material from shore to ship or ship to shore. The Is-lais Creek yard has contracted this phase of construction to a civilian concern, r,l'hich employs steadilv 15 carpenters and mill hands. The assemblyjhowever, is'made in one corner of the Islais Creek project, and is under Marine inspection at all times.

Another finished product of the Islais Creek yard is the pontoon bridge. An enormous stack of parts for pontoons occupies one part of the yard. These are all prefabricated at the mills, come to Islais Creek for classification and further shipment overseas.

Douglas Fir from the forests of Oregon and Washington p_rovides the majority of the lumber passing through Iilais Creek.

Some of the wood received and processed is the famed Calilornia Redwood. There is a spiinkling of other woo<l.s handled, and a small amount of plywood.

There are six Marines on the yard staff, with more than 45 regular civilian employes. The Marines, all chosen for a "lumber background" in civilian life, act in a supervisorial capaclty.

Major Magnuson was a sawmill operator before the war, in the state of Oregon. Captain Morgan, the purchasing .agent in the field, is a former Portland wholesale lumber-man. Technical Sergeant Gunter, of Hoaquim, Wash., in charge of the yard, r,vas employed by several lumber firms in his home city before re-enlisting at the outbreak of the war. ITe served a cruise in the Corps in the early 2O's.

The Islais Creek yard, with " deep water terminal for lumber and other boats at its north boundary, covers approx_i_mately six acres. It has ample storage ipace for 2d,000,000 board feet.

Equipment is modern and sufficient. A huge warehouse is available to store lumber of a type requiring shelter from the elements. There are five huge Ross Lumber Carriers.

Among the new equipment recently installed is a $5000 resaw. Rail facilities at the yard include a siding for 15 cars.

\Afhjle only 20 per cent of the lumber passing through the yard is destined for West Coast Marine shore estiblishments, the uses for wood are many and necessary. Lumber for boxes, packaging, and crates is in demand it all West C_oast bases, be it a barracks at a Naval Post, or the huge Marine bases at San Diego and Camp Pendleton.

That lumber plays such a vital part in the Marine Corps may come as a surprise even to old line Marines. The scooe of the operations of Major Magnuson would amaze . civilians, who tend to think of Marines solely as fighting men on some far away.beachhead, little stopping to realize the exte_nt of the pl-anning and obtaining of Jupplies necessary to keep them fighting, and to back the atttak.

The Islais Creek lumber yard was born of wartime necessity._ It__was originally a civilian yard, but was acquired by the Marine Corps and expanded into a model that is the envy of civilian businesses. The movement of lumber through the yard is so planned that not a foot of motion is wasted, nor a second lost through disorderly arrangement.

Lumber has taken its place in the Marine Coips as a potgqt fighting force, and in the words of Brigadiir General Jacobsen, it is one of the "five critical anii-vital materials" necessa,ry to conduct a successful amphibious opera- tion and further consolidation and securing of large irea; in Pacific theater.

You coME FtRsT

,/ after Unclc Sam

: BUT the well known EWAUNA J lJ mark will alwaye b*

I FIRST for textrre

\-.- 7 FIRST for millwork

Cencal California Rcpreoentative Pytamid Lumber Sdes Co., Oatland